Haffenreffer Private Stock Malt Liquor

Pabst Brewing Company
Brewed at Lion Brewery, Inc.
Style: Malt Liquor
Woodridge, Illinois USA

The aroma is of cheap malts, (so much for the private stock) fuel, and light, grassy hops but no skunk. The appearance is pale gold with a small sized head. The flavor is like the aroma and slightly medicinal. The palate is thin and the aftertaste sweet and nasty. This is an odd malt liquor because the alcohol is well hidden. After I got about half way trough (which was hard) I took the advice from the commercial description and put it ’on the rocks’ to try and make it drinkable. Beer on ice! I guess it brings a whole new meaning to the term ice beer (rim shot). Well anyway it is truly a sign of a poor quality beer to serve it on the rocks: ice+beer = watery (surprise, surprise). Good luck trying to finish one of these. I had to pour it out.

Bottle... rusty cap... consumed on the rocks as suggested... I just read HoppityHop’s rating and agree that this could be a Ballentine Light... a Ballentine Super Light even. TheBeerLover popped open a 1946 vintage bottle of Ballentine Burton Ale last December and this was definitely reminiscent of that brew (although I rated the Ballentine fairly highly (would’ve been a 3.7 on Ratebeer) and I’m rating this one very low), but now I’m comparing 61 years old ales to ten-year-old lagers... anyway... Murky golden lager with a large, creamy, off-white head. Decent retention. The aroma is almost nondescript, but I was able to pull some stale perspiration with watered-down apple juice and a rumor of cardboard out of it. Tastes mainly like a stale ice cube made of water pulled from a rusty tap... sorry, that’s the best I can do. Thin and watery texture with only a hint of carbonation. Stale, flat finish. Strangely, not the worst beer I’ve ever tried, but it was definitely workin’ toward it. I think just one more year in that green bottle would’ve done the trick. I’m gonna start drinking all my beer on the rocks!

16oz bottle poured crystal clear gold color with tiny ring of white foam. The aroma ranges from sweet malts to sweet corn bread. The first sip is surprisingly not too sweet for a Malt Liquor. The taste seems mild and neutral to begin with. Nearing midway hop bitterness and the malty possibly adjunct laden sweetness comes in at almost equal strength. Very drinkable for the style.

Not quite sure why this is rated so much higher than the other malt liquors. Frankly, it smells ok, kind of like alcohol. First sip is also ok, but then the next one tastes of gasoline. I played quarters with this beer and it did go down pretty easy when it was chugged rapidly, but overall, this is just another cheap malt liquor.

1/2 quart bottle. Sweet/sour corn/barley malt aroma. Clear light yellow color with quickly collapsing head. Sweet/sour malt flavor - no fusels though. Flavor and body of a light beer - could be re-marketed as Miller Lite Malt Liquor.

I haven’t had this in years. We used to get 99 cent 40 ounces from Nellie’s Liquor up in Normal Heights. Nellie’s is still there, though it’s changed names. They no longer have this beer. They have lots of krunk juice and other urban delicacies (Cisco, MD 20/20, etc). The place got robbed moments after my friend went in for smokes last summer. Don’t worry, none of us got hurt. These guys robbed all kinds of places around the neighborhood. They even killed a shop owner last summer. Damn hood rats. Anyway, this gets a 1 because they had those little anagram puzzles in the caps. Those were always fun to try and decipher. Otherwise, this stuff was cheap stank.

One of the better ’cheap’ malt liquors. Enjoying from a 16 oz. green bottle, I don’t sense the import taste. I sense the sucking taste. Cheap beer with medium body and relatively offensive being. Be like Biggy and sip on some Private Stock.

The presentation was a unique large one pint / Half quart can. Served in my pint glass. This beer pours *very* clear! 2 Finger soapy looking tight fizzy white head. Extremely carbonated. Lots of tiny bubbles are rapidly fighting their way to the surface. This beer looks like a malt liquor. (I know that carries a certain stigma but try to consider this in its genre). The smell is nearly non-existent. I poured this very cold and got no aroma. As it warmed I got a bit more sugar maltiness. Eventually it seemed like sugar alcohol. Honestly, I haven’t had any malt liquor since I started paying attention to the beer I drink. ’Back in the day’ it worked for a get drunk beer but in recent years I had not revisited this type of beer. Now that I care what the beers attributes are, I was expecting to not like this beer. Surprisingly that was not the case. It is, what it is, a malt liquor; but it is a decent one. It’s a very sugary malty beer. I like the fact that it is not *at all* bitter. No bad aftertaste. The only aftertaste is (again) sugary. The taste is not complex or interesting. If you are looking for a fantastic unique craft beer you should know better than to pick this malt liquor. However, if you are looking for an easy drinking, smooth, refreshing "let’s get drunk this afternoon" good malt liquor, this is a decent choice. Hope this is helpful. Cheers!